Games › Tactical › Tactical + Crime
Should I ship a Crime Tactical game?
Tactical + Crime
Of 24 developers who shipped a Crime Tactical game in the last 2 years: 3 in 10 made under est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 4 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 20 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 73 more are announced, ×6.6 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 6 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $720, ×1.1 the market's $630 for a 6 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $540; 1 in 20 cleared $470k, ×752 the market median. Revenue is up 65% on the market; 73 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $538 (exactly $538) |
|---|---|
| Median | $718 (exactly $718) |
| Top 25% | $72k (exactly $71,928) |
| Top 5% | $473k (exactly $472,564) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 24 |
| Released games | 96 |
| Announced | 73 |
| Effort | 6 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $9.99 |
momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue up 65% on the market, supply 15% fewer developers than the period before.
Free games: 13%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
What it takes
- Effort
- 6 / 10 · full 3D single-player, physics sims, content-heavy RPG
- Systems
- Tactical; 7 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Action, Combat, Shooter
- Price point
- $9.99 typical · top 25% priced $34.99 or above
- Art
- 5 in 10 of the top 25% ship with First-Person, 3D, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $34.99 or above; the middle game at $9.99.
The top 10 games average 80% positive over 4,416 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $540. 8 in 10 of the 16 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 73 games are announced against 11 developers who shipped in the last year, ×6.6 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Tactical with a different setting or mood, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Football (American)Strong odds
- + Mystery DungeonStrong odds
- + Dating SimFair
- + 6DOFFair
- + Word GameFair
- + TypingFair
- + DwarvesFair
- + Traditional RoguelikeFair
- + Dynamic NarrationFair
- + Farming SimFair
- + SolitaireFair
- + LGBTQ+Fair
Comparable games
Ready or Not 2023 · $398M 
PAYDAY 2 2013 · $134M 
PAYDAY 3 2023 · $44M 
Hitman: Absolution™ 2012 · $30M 
PAYDAY™ The Heist 2011 · $6.6M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Ready or Not | older | $49.99 | 265,219 79% | 8.0M | $398M (exactly $397,748,934) | VOID Interactive |
| | PAYDAY 2 | older | $9.99 | 445,531 89% | 13M | $134M (exactly $133,525,641) | OVERKILL - a Starbreeze Studio., Sidetr… (OVERKILL - a Starbreeze Studio., Sidetrack Games) |
| | PAYDAY 3 | older | $29.99 | 49,305 45% | 1.5M | $44M (exactly $44,359,708) | Starbreeze Studios |
| | Hitman: Absolution™ | older | $19.99 | 49,637 93% | 1.5M | $30M (exactly $29,767,309) | Io-Interactive A/S |
| | PAYDAY™ The Heist | older | $9.99 | 21,870 92% | 656k | $6.6M (exactly $6,554,439) | OVERKILL - a Starbreeze Studio. |
 | 911 Operator | older | $14.99 | 14,416 89% | 432k | $6.5M (exactly $6,482,875) | Jutsu Games |
 | Empire of Sin | older | $39.99 | 4,544 49% | 136k | $5.5M (exactly $5,451,437) | Romero Games |
 | Crime Boss: Rockay City | older | $19.99 | 8,553 68% | 257k | $5.1M (exactly $5,129,234) | INGAME STUDIOS |
 | Battlefield™ Hardline | older | $39.99 | 4,000 68% | 120k | $4.8M (exactly $4,798,800) | DICE |
 | Police Stories | older | $19.99 | 7,893 85% | 237k | $4.7M (exactly $4,733,432) | HypeTrain Digital |
 | Psycho Patrol R | · EA | $39.99 | 2,090 88% | 63k | $2.5M (exactly $2,507,373) | Consumer Softproducts |
 | Alpha Response | · EA | $19.99 | 788 77% | 24k | $473k (exactly $472,564) | Ultimo Ratio Games |
 | SWAT Commander | · EA | $19.99 | 665 77% | 20k | $399k (exactly $398,800) | Red Mountain Games, Ritual Interactive |
 | Responding | · EA | $24.99 | 409 45% | 12k | $307k (exactly $306,627) | Visionary Studios |
 | PROHIBEAST | $34.99 | 121 57% | 3.6k | $127k (exactly $127,014) | SUPER AC | |
 | The Fable: Manga Build Roguelike | $9.99 | 240 91% | 7.2k | $72k (exactly $71,928) | MONO ENTERTAINMENT | |
 | Pirate Hunter | $6.99 | 80 87% | 2.4k | $17k (exactly $16,776) | DIOsoft | |
 | corpo/ghost | $14.99 | 6 100% | 180 | $2.7k (exactly $2,698) | Interleaved Systems | |
 | Bratki | $5.99 | 11 72% | 330 | $2.0k (exactly $1,977) | VZLab | |
 | PolyCrime | · EA | $9.99 | 6 66% | 180 | $1.8k (exactly $1,798) | FoxGameDev |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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